Armed Forces: Explosive Suppressant Foam

Baroness Byford: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Further to the Written Answer by the Lord Bach on 22 March (WA 53), whether the specificity and the sensitivity of single intradermal comparative cervical tuberculin tests are continuously monitored; and, if so, what is their response to the demonstrable signs of tuberculosis found in 33.6 per cent. of skin test reactors slaughtered in 2005.

Lord Rooker: The performance of the single intradermal comparative cervical tuberculin (SICCT) test under GB field conditions is continuously monitored using a number of TB epidemiological parameters. Quoted sensitivity and specificity ranges for diagnostic tests are established from research studies and published in the scientific literature.
	For bovine TB, the most sensitive tests for diagnosis of infection depend on the identification of the immune response mounted by an animal in response to being exposed to the causative organism, as detected through tuberculin skin testing or gamma interferon blood testing.
	Historically, between 30 and 40 per cent. of SICCT test reactors have demonstrable evidence of infection when slaughtered.
	The primary purpose of post mortem and bacteriological culture of test reactors is not to establish the presence or absence of disease, but rather to identify the severity and strain of infection—this is useful for epidemiological purposes and supports subsequent disease control efforts.
	TB skin test reactors that fail to disclose disease in the slaughterhouse or laboratory should not be considered as being uninfected. In essence, post mortem examination and microbiological culture are not the gold standards for diagnosis of M. bovis infections as both methods are less sensitive than immunological tests such as the SICCT test. Moreover, these tests are used in different cattle populations. The SICCT is primarily used as a screening test for cattle showing no clinical signs of disease, whereas post mortem and culture are used as tests on a subpopulation of cattle selected on the basis of positive results to a screening test. The different nature of these populations will affect the performance of any tests used on them. A direct comparison of the performance of tests that ignores these differences in populations is, therefore, not valid.

Lord McKenzie of Luton: I assume that the Question concerns ministerial directions. These are given when a Minister directs an accounting officer, usually in writing, to proceed in accordance with his or her policy decision even though the accounting officer has formally notified the Minister of an objection to the Minister's proposed course of action because of concerns about propriety, regularity or value for money.
	Departments are required to notify the Treasury when a direction has been issued and to send relevant papers to the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) without delay. It is then a matter for the C&AG to decide what action he wants to take and whether to refer the matter to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman.
	The following table lists the ministerial directions to accounting officers of which the Treasury has been informed since 1997.
	
		
			 Year Department Subject of Direction Category ofDirection 
			 1997 DETR Millennium Exhibition: Expenditure to regenerate the Greenwich peninsula and to provide a site for the Millennium Exhibition Economy, efficiency and effectiveness 
			 1997 DETR Channel Tunnel Rail Link and exceptional hardship Economy, efficiency and effectiveness 
			 1998 The former Department of Social Security (DSS) Benefits Agency/Post Office Counters Ltd (BA/POCL) automation project Economy, efficiency and effectiveness 
			 1998 DSS Benefits Agency/Post Office Counters Ltd (BA/POCL) automation project Economy, efficiency and effectiveness 
			 1998 Northern Ireland Court Service Concerns an individual's personnel records Propriety/regularity 
			 1998 MoD Sale of cadet property in Moffat Propriety/regularity 
			 1998 DSS Benefits Integrity Project Propriety/regularity 
			 1999 DSS Benefits Integrity Project Propriety/regularity 
			 1999 DSS Benefits Integrity Project Propriety/regularity 
			 1999 ECGD Cashmere Exporters Economy, efficiency and effectiveness 
			 1999 ECGD ECGD Cover—Indonesia Economy, efficiency and effectiveness 
			 2000 ECGD ECGD Cover—Romania Economy, efficiency and effectiveness 
			 2000 MoD Use of public funds to provide financial assistance to meet cost of air flight to Croatia for member of public to attend trial of those accused of murder of his son, a British serviceman Propriety/regularity 
			 2001 MoD Roll-on, roll-off (RoRo) ferries Economy, efficiency and effectiveness 
			 2001 Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Regional Selective Assistance (RSA) Regularity/propriety 
			 2002 DETR A43 Silverstone bypass Economy, efficiency and effectiveness 
			 2003 DTI Regional Selective Assistance (RSA) Economy, efficiency and effectiveness 
			 2003 MoD Acquisition of BAe Hawk trainer aircraft Economy, efficiency and effectiveness 
			 2005 DTI Bombardier C-series launch investment Economy, efficiency and effectiveness

Lord Rooker: Since the Northern Ireland (Sentences) Act 1998 came into force on 10 April 1998 the number of persons who have had their licences suspended and been recalled to prison in each year under this legislation and the numbers of those charged and convicted of offences are as shown in the table below. (This is out of a total of 448 persons who have been released early on their sentences under the Act).
	
		
			 Year Number Recalled Charged Not Charged Number Convicted 
			 1998 0 0 0 0 
			 1999 0 0 0 0 
			 2000 2 1 1 1 
			 2001 3 2 1 2 
			 2002 2 2 0 2 
			 2003 2 1 1 1 
			 2004 1 1 0 1 
			 2005 5 *3 2 *2 
			 2006## 1 *1 0 *0 
			 Totals 16 11 5 9 
		
	
	##as at 8 May 2006
	*1 x case in each of these years still subject to criminal proceedings.
	Prisoner Releases under the Good Friday agreement/Northern Ireland (Sentences) Act 1998
	The Good Friday agreement was supported by over 70 per cent. of the Northern Ireland population and is believed to offer the best hope for a fair and peaceful future. It contained many difficult compromises not least that relating to the early release of prisoners. This element has been particularly difficult for victims.
	As part of the agreement a programme for the accelerated release of prisoners was established by both Governments. This included prisoners convicted of scheduled (terrorist-type) offences in Northern Ireland and transferred prisoners—those sentenced outside Northern Ireland but convicted of similar offences. Prisoners affiliated to organisations which had not established or were not maintaining a complete and unequivocal ceasefire did not and still do not benefit from the arrangements.
	The Northern Ireland (Sentences) Act 1998 which gave effect to the prisoners section of the agreement came into force on 28 July 1998. This established independent sentence review commissioners (SRC) to consider applications from individual prisoners. To date (8 May 2006) 448 prisoners have been granted early release by the commissioners; 157 of them were life sentence prisoners. Of the 448 prisoners released, 194 were affiliated to loyalist organisations, 242 were republican and 12 had no particular affiliation.
	Important safeguards were built into the Sentences Act. Those released under the Act were released on licence conditional on them not supporting a specified organisation; not becoming involved in the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism; and, in the case of a life sentence prisoner, not becoming a danger to the public. The Secretary of State may suspend a licence and a licensee be returned to prison if he/she is believed to have, or is likely to have, broken all or any of his/her licence conditions.
	Of those released to date 16 have been found to be in breach of the terms of their licences and have had their licences suspended. Thirteen of these were loyalists and three were republicans.
	Although the vast majority of prisoners who were eligible have now been released, it is possible that, in the future, individuals who are convicted of scheduled offences committed before the date of the Good Friday agreement may be eligible to apply for early release under the Sentences Act.